Two months after they left Portland, having dropped under .500 and being forced to spend all of January and February trying to climb their way back, the Rockets marked their turnaround by whipping the Trail Blazers 103-87 on Tuesday night, leading by as many as 19 points on the way to one of their most impressive victories of the season.

“We’re playing with a sense of urgency every single possession,” said Kyle Lowry, who had 21 points and 11 assists and drove the Rockets through their few rough spots. “Guys are stepping up, and we know what we’re going to do. We have confidence in each other. We know exactly what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it. That’s big for us.”

The Rockets had quickly declared their win Sunday in New Orleans the season’s best after crafting their largest comeback and a fourth-quarter finish that answered the Hornets’ late-game wins against them.

On Tuesday in Portland, the Rockets beat the Trail Blazers the way the Blazers had beaten them in their previous game in the Rose Garden, nearly matching the 100-85 score that night.

The season itself clearly has never been better. The Rockets moved to a .500 record for the first time since they were 16-16 before that Jan. 2 game in Portland. They have a season-best five-game winning streak and a season-best six-game road winning streak. They have won six of seven games against teams with winning records.

“It means a lot,” center Chuck Hayes said of the return to. 500. “We have 20 games left in the season. We have to try to find a way to be a threat to these teams looking back at us in the standings. Hopefully, we can put a little pressure on people.”

It’s a matter of trust

As with Sunday’s 91-89 victory in New Orleans, the Rockets easily ran through one of the league’s better defensive teams.

Moving the ball sharply, the Rockets got good shots throughout the night, with Luis Scola sinking 10 of his 11 attempts to match Lowry’s 21 points. Kevin Martin’s 30-point streak ended at three games, but he was 9-of-17 in scoring 20 as the Rockets hit 57.9 percent of their shots.

Even in the second half, when they slowed down with the lead, the Rockets were able to move the ball against Portland’s zone and get good looks to beat the shot clock.

“You’ve got to use your big people, and you’ve got to trust each other,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “When we move the ball and we get an advantage, you have to trust your teammates are going to be there. You can pass and cut. It takes time for guys to realize that. If we play that way, we’re really hard to guard.”

The Rockets even had a strong defensive game, holding LaMarcus Aldridge to 14 points — half his February average — in 41 minutes. They even broke out a rare double-team, swarming to Aldridge and then scrambling to challenge the shots around him.

“We doubled him from the very start,” Adelman said. “We were not going to let him go one-on-one, not let him get Chuck in foul trouble and make someone else beat us. As the game went on, we did a nice job filling in on the guy that came off the double. Then the last part of the game we were going to turn Chuck loose on (Aldridge) and make him make plays.”

On fire in third quarter

By then, it was too late. The Rockets rolled through a first-quarter offensive blast, making 68.4 percent of their shots. When the defense picked up, the Rockets rode it to an 11-point halftime lead.

When the starters returned for the start of the second half, they began to blow the game open. They scored on the first three possessions of the second half, with Chase Budinger getting two slams in the opening minutes.

The Rockets made 13 of 18 shots in the third quarter for their best shooting quarter (72.2 percent) of the season. They spent the rest of the night picking the Blazers apart whenever Portland mounted any challenge.

“We’re playing well,” Scola said. “I was expecting we would start playing better at some point in the season. It’s just five games. We have to be consistent in the month and a half we have left. We have a big chance here. We’ve got to go for it.”